The Worksong Project

What’s the plan?

The Worksong Project will create as many high quality recordings of work songs in action as we can afford - from the field, from the sea, from the market, to your workplace, your home, or your earbuds.

Using Bennett’s knowledge of the wide world of work songs, we want to make the highest quality, and the most comprehensive archive of work song videos and teaching tools, and make them accessible to everyone for free.

We will start this summer at Duckback Farm in Belfast Maine, where we will record the Duckback Worksongers doing 20 videos, including songs, archival notes, and tips on how to introduce them into your work and music.

Why Worksongs, Why Now?

Worksongs are tools that were once as common in the field as any spade, scythe, fork. Long ago, our ancestors discovered that a singing worker is faster and more efficient, feels more invested in their work and their team, and has more fun than their silent counterpart. They are not only a practical tool people can use to improve their own work, they are a reminder that work can be fun, it can be transformed in simple ways using tools we already have.

Across the world, we are seeing each new generation leave behind the small agricultural communities where worksongs once thrived, favoring instead the promise of large, corporate, mechanized work which is so prevalent in our global economy. As a result, worksongs are not being passed down from the older generations, and are quickly fading from living memory.

At the same time, we're seeing people begin to use music in their work again. Small farmers have started to try using music in their fields and barns. People are starting to sing while running. Musical rowing is not far off. We want to provide a resource for people to come and learn songs, get inspired, and ultimately connect with something that can make their lives and their work more meaningful and fun.

How You Can Help

We are funding this project through Patreon. It's a new form of patronage, but instead of relying on a small number of big donors, this project will rely on hundreds of small participants... who all want to see it continue.

The content from these expeditions, near or far, will be available to all who seek them - there is no need to pledge to enjoy the Worksong Project! But if you can help with a Patreon Pledge, we can repay your generosity with Bonus Material. With a Pledge of $3 per month, we can offer you .mp3 files of the material we collect, and access to an exclusive forum with real-time updates on our progress, liner notes for each individual song, lyrics, historical data, and our team’s accounts from the recording and archiving process.